On December 6, 2025, global market research firm TrendForce released a report indicating that the personal computer (PC) market is about to experience a wave of price hikes. This is a result of the increasingly severe global shortage of DRAM and NAND Flash memory chips.

Two major PC behemoths, Dell and Lenovo, have recently announced substantial retail price increases in the short - term to counter the skyrocketing memory costs. Dell is slated to start implementing price adjustments in mid - December, with an anticipated increase range of 15% to 20%. Lenovo has also informed its customers about price hikes, and these relevant adjustments are set to come into effect in early 2026. Additionally, it's expected that HP will follow suit and raise prices in the second half of next year.

The reasons behind the memory chip shortage are manifold. Firstly, the AI boom has led to an explosion in storage demand. Major tech companies have witnessed a surge in demand for AI servers, and the memory requirements for a single AI server far outstrip those of ordinary servers. Moreover, the influence of AI has extended to various fields such as data centers, PCs, mobile phones, and automotive applications.

On the demand side, global cloud providers have significantly ramped up their orders. Some North American cloud companies have placed single orders that reach tens of exabytes (EBs), causing inventory shortages at the three major memory manufacturers - Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.

From the supply perspective, the three major memory manufacturers have given priority to capacity allocation for High - Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and enterprise - grade Solid - State Drives (SSDs) in an effort to capture the AI market. This has squeezed the production capacity for consumer - grade and industrial - grade memory. Additionally, traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) manufacturers have successively cut back on production. This has triggered supply shortages and forced some orders to shift to SSDs, further intensifying the tensions in the NAND supply chain.

Due to the supply shortage, memory chip prices have soared significantly. The expected contract price increases in the fourth quarter may even surpass market expectations. The continuous upward trend in memory prices has substantially driven up the material costs for consumer electronics. This has compelled manufacturers to raise retail prices, which in turn has led to a contraction in market demand.